Looking for some riveting reads to add to the TBR stack? Take your pick from these compelling books by Black authors.
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30 Books by Black Authors That Belong on Your Bookshelf
Updated on Nov. 13, 2024
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Swift River by Essie Chambers
For fans of: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
In the summer of 1987, Diamond Newberry is the only Black person in the small town of Swift River since her father vanished seven years ago. Her mother wants to finally declare him dead, but then a letter from an unknown relative arrives, revealing family secrets that stretch across generations of African American Newberry women. As Diamond uncovers the truth, she begins to understand her place in her family and confront the weight of her past. Published in the summer of 2024, Swift River is a powerful debut book for women that was also a Read with Jenna book club pick.
“Chambers’s Diamond is one of those protagonists that gets under your skin and stays with you long after you have finished the book,” says Lisa Williamson Rosenberg, author of Mirror Me and Embers on the Wind. “As part of the town’s only interracial family, she is accustomed to being stared at, but when her father disappears, she becomes the town’s only Black resident. Chambers takes us on a deep dive into the world of a child forced to make sense of racism on her own, who desperately wants to belong, to love and be loved when the adults around are too impaired to meet her needs. Letters from a mysterious aunt shed light on Diamond’s history, about the night all the Black folks left the town of Swift River. You will devour this book for its fascinating history, for the powerfully complex relationships and, of course, for Diamond herself.”
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The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
For fans of: Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks
There has long been an unspoken connection between the Black and Jewish communities, both of which take center stage in The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. The story opens with a mystery in 1970s Pennsylvania before jumping back in time to 1925. Here, in the thriving Chicken Hill neighborhood, Black and Jewish people live together, bound by secrets, ambition and survival. With his latest novel, New York Times bestselling author James McBride showcases his powerful storytelling and suggests love and a sense of community have the power to transcend the weight that is often placed on matters of race. It’s an excellent read worth savoring. Need more proof? A mere four months after its August 2023 publication, it earned the title of the best book of the year from both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
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Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
For fans of: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Although Parable of the Sower was published in 1993, this dystopian book has proven to be strangely relevant to today. Set in a postapocalyptic future of the early 2020s that’s ravaged by climate change, economic crisis and social collapse, a young Lauren Olamina is struggling to survive along with her family, lead by her preacher father, in a gated California community. Lauren has a rare disorder that makes her hypersensitive to the emotions of others. She can feel what they feel—and that’s not a good thing in a world where empathy is a dangerous weakness. Lauren is displaced from her home and sets out on a harrowing journey north, with hope and raw survival instincts as her only weapons. This visionary novel is a gripping tale of resilience, community and the power to shape a new destiny in the face of disaster.
“In today’s political climate in which society has such a ‘seeing is believing’ approach to suffering, this book makes you think about your own empathy and how you react to other people’s pain if it isn’t also yours,” says Ellington McKenzie, the partnerships marketing manager at Bookshop.org. “A highly recommended read for all of us existing today.”
On Sale
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
For fans of: The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
Take My Hand was one of the most highly anticipated fiction books of 2022, and for good reason. It delves into the forced sterilization of Black women in the American South during the 1970s. Based on true events, the timely story sheds light on the history of the health-care system in America and how it often negatively impacts the lives of those who are Black and poor. Our grim history is explored through the lives of tween sisters Minnie Lee and Mary Alice Relf, who are being coerced into sterilization without knowing it.
Dolen Perkins-Valdez masterfully makes an argument on behalf of the disenfranchised and marginalized, and she uses historical fiction to amplify the history of racial inequality and injustice in the health-care system. Take My Hand diplomatically cuts to the core of America’s long-hidden legacy of traumatizing the Black body.
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The Personal Librarian by Victoria Christopher Murray and Marie Benedict
For fans of: Passing by Nella Larsen
The New York Times bestseller The Personal Librarian has been hailed by the Washington Post as “historical fiction at its finest” and tells the true story of Belle da Costa Greene, a Black woman who became a powerful force in the art world, all while passing for White. Not only was da Costa Greene the personal librarian of J.P. Morgan, but she also built his famous rare books and manuscript collection, and became one of America’s most prominent librarians. In 1924, she was named the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library. The Personal Librarian, which came out in 2021, centers her story and provides an opportunity for readers to explore and further examine what it means to be Black—or in this case, to hide Black identity—in America.
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Time’s Undoing by Cheryl Head
For fans of: Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Crosby
In Time’s Undoing, published in 2023, a dual-timeline story follows young Black journalist Meghan McKenzie in 2019 as she delves into the unsolved murder of her great-grandfather in 1929 Birmingham. As she uncovers long-buried secrets in a city marked by racial violence, Meghan’s search for justice becomes a gripping, life-threatening pursuit. Inspired by true events, this powerful drama book intertwines past and present, revealing a family’s hidden trauma and the strength of a community fighting for change.
“Cheryl Head is such a thoughtful, deliberate writer. Every word counts, and every word in Time’s Undoing illuminates the delicate and painful crossroads meeting of race and small-town racism, history and family,” says Tracy Clark, author of the Detective Harriet Foster and Cass Raines PI series. “Some books stay with you long after you’ve put them down; this is one of them for me. Head also authors the Charlie Mack Motown Mystery series, featuring a Black female PI. Equally good. Charlie’s no joke.”
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Wahala by Nikki May
For fans of: Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Published in 2022, Wahala centers on three Anglo-Nigerian pals whose longtime friendship is upset when the charming Isobel bursts into their group. Hailed as a mix between My Sister, the Serial Killer, Sex in the City and Big Little Lies, this book about friendship delicately delves into the dynamics of female bonds and explores themes of colorism, multiculturalism and even internalized racism. If you’re curious about Nigerian cooking and fashion and want a refreshing take on culture through a biracial lens, this book is the perfect read for you.
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Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
For fans of: What’s Mine and Yours by Naima Coster
Landing on the New York Times bestseller list when it came out in 2022 and getting the TV treatment in 2023, Black Cake opens with the death of matriarch Eleanor Bennett. She’s left her two adult sons a small inheritance: a voice recording and a traditional Caribbean black cake. They raise more questions than answers, hinting at long-buried family secrets. As the men puzzle out their mother’s history, they grapple with their estrangement from each other and the spiritual and emotional ramifications of their mother’s hidden past. As readers soon find out, secrets, once discovered, can make or break a family.
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Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry
For fans of: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
The award-winning Looking for Lorraine, published in 2018, is one part biography, one part loving tribute to and intimate portrait of Lorraine Hansberry. A playwright, writer, artist and activist, Hansberry was the first African American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. She’s best known for her award-winning dramatic stage play, A Raisin in the Sun, about the hopes, dreams, fears and struggles of a Black, working-class family living on Chicago’s South Side.
“To be young, gifted and Black is the essence of Lorraine Hansberry,” McKenzie says. “Author Imani Perry does an excellent job diving deep into the astounding and short life of the playwright and activist. If you enjoy biographies like me, you’ll walk away from this book feeling captivated and committed to learning more about Lorraine Hansberry.”
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Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
For fans of: Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
Presidential inaugural poet—the youngest in U.S. history—Amanda Gorman captured the nation’s attention in 2021 with her poem “The Hill We Climb.” Published later the same year, Call Us What We Carry is a meditation on identity, history and language. This inspirational book is a definite must-read for anyone looking for a powerful poetry collection that shares messages of hope and reckoning.
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Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
For fans of: Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
Ike Randolph, out of prison for 15 years, has cops at his door with devastating news: Ike’s son, Isiah, has been murdered. Derek, Isiah’s White husband, also turned up dead, and Buddy Lee, Derek’s father, who also has a criminal record, is shocked by the tragic turn of events. Fueled by rage and united by tragedy, the two men journey through the underbelly of the South to find out who killed their sons. Razorblade Tears, published in 2021, is an electrifying, page-turning, intense novel that confronts head-on issues like race, sexuality, prejudice and revenge.
“Cosby has literally reinvented Southern noir for a new generation of crime thriller fans,” says Clark. “The author’s distinctive voice, the drumbeat of oppressive bigotry and hate, fear and anger, in each of his books, is loud enough to part the clouds in heaven. You cannot read Cosby and not think. You cannot read Cosby and not feel.”
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Lone Women by Victor LaValle
For fans of: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
From the award-winning author of The Changeling comes another tense horror book that’ll have you flipping pages faster than you can say “keep the lights on.” Lone Women takes readers to the American West in 1915, where Adelaide Henry arrives with a steamer trunk. It’s locked and must be kept that way—otherwise, people will die. A well-plotted, genre-blending tale that ratchets up the suspense and weaves mystery throughout (what, we ask, is in that trunk?), 2023’s Lone Women is must-read fiction.
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I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both by Mariah Stovall
For fans of: A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
“There is so much I loved about Mariah Stovall’s captivating debut. Race, class and sexuality are all inventively at play throughout,” Williamson Rosenberg says.
Published in 2024, the coming-of-age story I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both follows Khaki Oliver, who has a history of unhealthy relationships and now has to decide whether to reconnect with her former best friend, Fiona, after a decade of silence. Fiona has invited Khaki to a party that could either reignite their intense, messy bond or force her to confront the past. As Khaki mulls over her decision, she crafts a mixtape from their shared history. Will reuniting with Fiona trap her in old patterns, or can she finally find herself in the music that once defined them both?
“Stovall’s narration is intricate, poetic, deft and form-challenging. Khaki is a masterfully developed, multilayered character: a young Black punk rocker with an eating disorder,” Williamson Rosenberg says. “Though punk rock and eating disorders are most often associated with whiteness, this stereotype-busting novel is totally unselfconscious and delightfully raw.”
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Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
For fans of: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
This thrilling fantasy novel received one of the biggest YA publishing deals ever, had film rights scooped up by Fox 2000 Pictures and became an instant No. 1 New York Times bestseller when it was released in 2018. The first in a three-novel young adult book series, Children of Blood and Bone is a West African–inspired fantasy that will appeal to teens and adults alike. Pick up this novel for exquisite world-building, well-drawn characters, magic and a fight for power. Children of Blood and Bone is a thrilling read that, while strictly fantastical, explores relevant issues of police brutality, discrimination and violence.
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Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
For fans of: Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
In her powerful 2022 debut novel, Tara M. Stringfellow explores three generations of a Southern Black family, along with long-buried secrets, matrilineal tradition and the healing power of art. When Joan, her mother and her little sister return to the family’s ancestral home, family secrets come to light, and the family’s lineage becomes an open gateway through which history and unspoken memories can pass. Memphis is a page-turner, and it’s the perfect pick for simultaneous mother-daughter book reads.
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Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead
For fans of: The Trees by Percival Everett
If you loved Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad and devoured The Nickel Boys (or any of his other works), you’ll consider this good news: The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner released another must-read novel in the Ray Carney series in 2023. So if you haven’t read the first (Harlem Shuffle), now’s the time to do so.
In Crook Manifesto, you’ll visit the seedy New York City of the ’70s, where Carney and his crew are running heists and other crimes. The city comes alive in Whitehead’s skillful hands—it’s as much a character as Carney and Pepper, his partner-in-crime. If you’re looking for outstanding books by Black authors, you can’t go wrong with Whitehead.
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Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human by Cole Arthur Riley
For fans of: Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
This 2024 collection of prayer, poetry and meditations blends Black spirituality with the emotional and physical realities of Black life. Dealing with the harshness of racial violence, a global pandemic and racism in her religious life led Riley to search for compassion, kindness and shared humanity in her expressions of faith. The result was this spiritual practice guide.
“I first discovered Cole Arthur Riley’s Black Liturgies Instagram page during the pandemic, and much like her IG posts, Riley’s words transcend onto the page in such a beautiful and healing way,” says McKenzie. “There is so much to gain for those looking for a safe space to heal through the power of affirming words.”
Riley addresses themes of awe, fury, rest and repair through rituals for everything from Lent to Juneteenth. A must-read for those seeking spiritual renewal, Black Liturgies is a moving call to reclaim faith and goodwill in a fractured world.
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We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza
For fans of: The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Many believe that the bonds of true friendship can never be broken, but what happens when issues of race fray the ties that bind? In We Are Not Like Them, a childhood friendship is tested by the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager by a White police officer. In this riveting Good Morning America book club pick, themes of friendship, marriage and career ambition collide against a backdrop of racial tension. Published in 2021, this is a timely story that’s perfect for a buddy read with friends.
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Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
For fans of: Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
The 2021 prequel to the blockbuster YA novel The Hate U Give offers a glimpse into Garden Heights nearly two decades earlier—familiarity with Angie Thomas’s debut novel is nice but not necessary. In Concrete Rose, she provides a thorough and introspective look inside the psyche of protagonist Maverick Carter, the 17-year-old son of an infamous drug lord, and the many challenges he faces. Although he appears to have everything under control, Maverick’s world is upended when he finds out he has a child. He’s forced to decide whether he wants to aspire to the drug-lord legacy of his father or break free from that generational pattern to give his child a different life.
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Don’t Cry for Me by Daniel Black
For fans of: Hold You Down by Tracy Brown
Jacob and his son, Isaac, haven’t spoken in years, but now that he’s on his deathbed, Jacob has something to say about family history, relationships and the terrible way he reacted when Isaac came out. With 2022’s Don’t Cry for Me, Daniel Black provides a peek inside the often-strained relationships between Black fathers and their gay sons. Poignant, timely and beautifully written, this LGBTQ book centers on themes of ancestral legacy, generational pain and family dynamics.
Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson
For fans of: Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Pheby Brown isn’t simply enslaved. The protagonist of Sadeqa Johnson’s 2021 novel, Yellow Wife, lives in one of the most harrowing slave jails in all of Virginia. Though promised her freedom at the age of 18, she soon learns that nobody keeps a promise to a slave. This book, which details her fight for freedom, incorporates elements of the true story of Robert Lumpkin, one of the most brutal slave traders in the South. A definite must-read, it has drawn comparisons to Solomon Northup’s account of his own enslavement, 12 Years a Slave.
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Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
For fans of: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
The caste system isn’t something that happens only in faraway places—it’s something that’s happened right here in America. That’s what Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson explores in Caste, her 2020 nonfiction book about the rigid hierarchy of human rankings. In addition to her unflinching look at the United States, she delves into the caste systems in India and Nazi Germany.
So what, exactly, does caste mean? “Caste is the granting or withholding of respect, status, honor, attention, privileges, resources, the benefit of the doubt and human kindness to someone on the basis of their perceived rank or standing in the hierarchy,” Wilkerson has said. “What some people call racism could be seen as merely one manifestation of the degree to which we have internalized the larger American caste system.”
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Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour
For fans of:
Published in 2021, New York Times bestseller Black Buck gets real about the many compromises Black people make while navigating America’s workforce. Mateo Askaripour’s debut novel is a racial satire centering on a Black salesman who works at an extremely successful startup and comes up with a plan to help young people of color infiltrate the country’s sales force. It dives into code-switching and ultimately shows how this linguistic back-and-forth takes a toll psychologically and emotionally over time.
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How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
For fans of: All That She Carried by Tiya Miles
Released in 2021, this nonfiction book by Atlantic writer and poet Clint Smith explores America’s history as a slave-owning nation and examines its many monuments and landmarks related to slavery and slave owners. How the Word Is Passed reveals how important aspects of our country’s history are often hidden in plain sight and how they have shaped our world.
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Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
For fans of: These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card
If you’re a fan of historical fiction books, you won’t want to miss this page-turner, which reveals how the memory and residue of captivity still lingers generations later. It tells the story of two sisters: one who was captured and sold into slavery and the other who married an Englishman and lived in a castle. Themes of generational trauma, blood memory and colonization run deep. Since its publication in 2016, Homegoing has received numerous literary accolades, including the PEN/Hemingway Award for a Debut Novel, the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature and the American Book Award.
On Sale
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
For fans of: Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Yaa Gyasi’s follow-up to her generational trauma saga Homegoing is equally stunning yet completely different. In 2020’s Transcendent Kingdom, she tells the story of a Ghanaian family based in Alabama that is greatly impacted by depression, grief, science, faith and love. Gifty, who’s working on her PhD in neuroscience at Stanford, is determined to understand the science behind all the pain she has seen in her family. But in the process of looking for answers, she is drawn back to the faith of her youth.
On Sale
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
For fans of: Where Wild Peaches Grow by Cade Bentley
Set in a fictional Louisiana town in 1848, The Vanishing Half follows twin sisters Stella and Desiree. Both have light skin and hazel eyes. Both feel the impact of the hierarchy of racial constructs, yet their futures stand in stark contrast. A sweeping, generational novel, The Vanishing Half examines themes of “White passing,” colorism and race. This thought-provoking work from Brit Bennett, author of The Mothers, was named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR, the Washington Post, the New York Times and even Barack Obama.
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Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
For fans of: Luster by Raven Leilani
Warning: You won’t be able to put this one down. Kiley Reid’s debut novel, published in 2019, examines race and privilege, raising powerful questions about identity, class and interpersonal relationships. Emira, a babysitter in the home of Alix, a blogger and public speaker, learns of her employer’s racist past through Alix’s ex, who Emira is coincidentally dating. But nothing is ever as it seems when it comes to those who don’t realize—or can’t admit—that they’re racist. Such a Fun Age immediately became a New York Times bestseller and went on to win the African American Literary Award in 2020. If you’re a fan, be sure to check out Reid’s newest novel, Come and Get It.
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You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
For fans of: Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
Leah Johnson’s debut YA novel, which came out in 2020, centers on Liz Lighty, a high schooler who devises a plan to leave her small town of Campbell, Indiana. With no other way to earn the cash, she joins a prom contest with the hopes of winning scholarship money—and finds herself with a crush on one of the other girls in the competition. You Should See Me in a Crown is a fun, queer romance book for teens. And don’t miss Johnson’s sophomore effort, Rise to the Sun.
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Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson
For fans of: On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
This thought-provoking, riveting mystery book shines a bright light on rape culture, impressionable teenage girls and the older male predators who can spot vulnerability a mile away. Enchanted Jones aspires to become a professional singer, so she’s thrilled when R&B artist Korey Fields notices her at an audition. But things don’t turn out as she planned. See, Korey is dead. And though she can’t remember the night before, Enchanted knows that’s blood on her hands. Like Tiffany D. Jackson’s gripping debut, Allegedly, 2020’s Grown is a tightly plotted mystery full of twists and turns.
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At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite books for over 100 years. We’ve worked with bestselling authors including Susan Orlean, Janet Evanovich and Alex Haley, whose Pulitzer Prize–winning Roots grew out of a project funded by and originally published in the magazine. Through Fiction Favorites (formerly Select Editions and Condensed Books), Reader’s Digest has been publishing anthologies of abridged novels for decades. We’ve worked with some of the biggest names in fiction, including James Patterson, Ruth Ware, Kristin Hannah and more. The Reader’s Digest Book Club, helmed by Books Editor Tracey Neithercott, introduces readers to even more of today’s best fiction by upcoming, bestselling and award-winning authors. For this piece on the best books by Black authors, For this piece, Lynnette Nicholas tapped her background as an entertainment journalist with more than 10 years of experience writing about culture, books and the arts to curate this list. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- Lisa Williamson Rosenberg, author of Mirror Me and Embers on the Wind; email interview, October 2024
- Ellington McKenzie, partnerships marketing manager at Bookshop.org; email interview, October 2024
- Tracy Clark, author of the Detective Harriet Foster and Cass Raines PI series; email interview, October 2024
